Jeremiah 50

50:1
The word that the LORD spake against Babylon and against the land of the
Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.

50:2
Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish,
and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is
broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces.

50:3
For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall
make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove,
they shall depart, both man and beast.

50:4
In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the children of Israel
shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they
shall go, and seek the LORD their God.

50:5
They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come,
and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant that shall not
be forgotten.

50:6
My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go
astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from
mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace.

50:7
All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We
offend not, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of
justice, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers.

50:8
Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the
Chaldeans, and be as the he goats before the flocks.

50:9
For, lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of
great nations from the north country: and they shall set themselves in array
against her; from thence she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of a
mighty expert man; none shall return in vain.

50:10
And Chaldea shall be a spoil: all that spoil her shall be satisfied, saith
the LORD.

50:11
Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of mine
heritage, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as
bulls;

50:12
Your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bare you shall be ashamed:
behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and
a desert.

(50:13-15)

(50:13) "Every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished, and
hiss at all her plagues."

50:13
Because of the wrath of the LORD it shall not be inhabited, but it shall
be wholly desolate: every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished, and
hiss at all her plagues.

50:14Put yourselves in array against Babylon round about: all ye that bend the
bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she hath sinned against the LORD.

(50:14) "Put yourselves in array against Babylon round about: all ye that bend the
bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she hath sinned against the LORD."

(50:15) "It is the vengeance of the LORD: take vengeance upon her."

50:15
Shout against her round about: she hath given her hand: her foundations
are fallen, her walls are thrown down: for it is the vengeance of the LORD:
take vengeance upon her; as she hath done, do unto her.

50:16
Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him that handleth the sickle in the
time of harvest: for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn every one
to his people, and they shall flee every one to his own land.

50:17
Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the
king of Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of
Babylon hath broken his bones.

50:18
Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will
punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of
Assyria.

50:19
And I will bring Israel again to his habitation, and he shall feed on
Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon mount Ephraim and
Gilead.

50:20
In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the iniquity of Israel
shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and
they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve.

50:21Go up against the land of
Merathaim, even against it, and against the
inhabitants of Pekod: waste and utterly destroy after them, saith the LORD,
and do according to all that I have commanded thee.

(50:21-32)

(50:21) "Go up against the land of
Merathaim ... and against the inhabitants of Pekod: waste and utterly destroy after them, saith the LORD,
and do according to all that I have commanded thee."
God says to do the usual thing to the inhabitants of "the land of Merathaim":
kill them all.

50:23
How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is
Babylon become a desolation among the nations!

50:24I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou
wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven
against the LORD.

(50:24) "I have laid a snare for thee ... O Babylon, and thou
wast not aware ... because thou hast striven against the LORD."

50:25The LORD hath opened his armoury, and hath brought forth the weapons of
his indignation: for this is the work of the Lord GOD of hosts in the land
of the Chaldeans.

(50:25) "The LORD hath opened his armoury, and hath brought forth the weapons of
his indignation: for this is the work of the Lord."

50:26
Come against her from the utmost border, open her storehouses: cast her up
as heaps, and destroy her utterly: let nothing of her be left.

(50:26) "Destroy her utterly: let nothing of her be left."

50:27Slay all her bullocks;
let them go down to the slaughter: woe unto them! for their day is come,
the time of their visitation.

(50:27) "Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: woe unto them!"

50:28
The voice of them that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to
declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance of his
temple.

50:29Call together the
archers against Babylon: all ye that bend the bow, camp against it round
about; let none thereof
escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she
hath done, do unto her: for she hath been proud against the LORD, against
the Holy One of Israel.

50:30Therefore shall her
young men fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be cut off in
that day, saith the LORD.

(50:30) "Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be cut off in
that day, saith the LORD."

50:31
Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud, saith the Lord GOD of hosts:
for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee.

50:32
And the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up:
and I will kindle a fire
in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him.

(50:32) "I will kindle a fire
in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him."
God, the pyromaniac, will personally set the fires that will burn to death the inhabitants of entire cities.

50:33
Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The children of Israel and the children of
Judah were oppressed together: and all that took them captives held them
fast; they refused to let them go.

50:34
Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name: he shall
throughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet
the inhabitants of Babylon.

50:35
A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the LORD, and upon the inhabitants of
Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men.

50:36
A sword is upon the liars; and they shall dote: a sword is upon her mighty
men; and they shall be dismayed.

50:37A sword is upon their
horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that
are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures; and
they shall be robbed.

(50:37)"A sword is upon their horses... they shall become as women."
God plans to kill all the Babylonian horses,
and to make the Babylonian men "become like women." (A fate worse than
death to a misogynistic god.).

50:38
A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the
land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.

50:39Therefore the wild
beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there,
and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for
ever; neither shall
it be dwelt in from generation to generation.

(50:39) "The wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall
dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to
generation."
God prophesies that Babylon will never again
be inhabited. But it has been inhabited constantly since the prophecy was
supposedly made, and is inhabited still today.

50:40
As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof,
saith the LORD; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man
dwell therein.

50:41
Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many
kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.

50:42
They shall hold the bow and the lance: they are cruel, and will not shew
mercy: their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride upon horses,
every one put in array, like a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter
of Babylon.

50:43
The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them, and his hands waxed
feeble: anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail.

50:44
Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan unto the
habitation of the strong: but I will make them suddenly run away from her:
and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me?
and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand
before me?

50:45
Therefore hear ye the counsel of the LORD, that he hath taken against
Babylon; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the land of the
Chaldeans: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he
shall make their habitation desolate with them.

50:46
At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is
heard among the nations.